Cooling apparatus for houses.



' M. LEBLANC.

cooLmG APPARATUS Fon Houss.

APPLIOATION FILED FEB. 10, 1904. 967,024, Patented Aug.9,19 10.

@/vbmemo 2 BHEETB-BHEBT 1,

M. LEBLANG.

COOLING APPARATUS FOB. HOUSES.

APPLIUATION FILED PEB. 1o. 1904.

Patented Ag. 9,1910. j

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

- ture.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFICE.

MAURICE LEBLANC, or rAnIs, FRANCE, Ass'reNon To soCiETE ANONYME roUn p LExrLorrATIoN Das rnocnnns wnsTINGHoUsnLnBLANa-or rAnIsrJa'ANCE. j

Specification of Letters Batent.

Patented Aug. 9, 1910.

Application led February 10, 1904. Serial No. 192,908.

To all whom 'tt may concern:

Be it known that I, `MAURICE LEBLANC, a

citizen of the Republic of France, and resi-v ing is a specication.

This invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and more particularly to apparatus adapted to be utilized for cooling houses.

An object'of this invention is the production of a simple and relatively eicient house cooling apparatus. t

Experience has induced the inhabitants of hot countries, especially along the shores of the Mediterranean, to give to their houses a cubical form and to Vobtain light for their apartments from a central court provided with a basin .having a water jet. `Where cold water can be obtained, (which is but rarely) 'this 'arrangement is excellent. Again, in the hot countries while the temperature rarely exceeds centigrade, it continues from one endof the year to the other and the air is saturated with mois- The practice of having the open court and fountam, if cold water is obtainable, is not only beneficial as a means of cooling the atmosphere but it also tends to dry the same by. condensing the moisture therein.

We find that acubic meter of saturated air contains: 30.10 grams of water vapor at a temperature o 3 C. 22.30 grams vof water vapor at a temperature of 25 C. 17 .05 grams of water vapor at a temperature -of.20. C. 12.60 grams of water vapor at a temperature-of 15 C.

lSupposing that saturated air at 30 were agitated by a water 'et which, issuing atv a .temperature lof 15 alle into a basin at a 'temperature of 15, the air will take the .temperature of 15 atlits point of contact Vwith the water and the greater part of the vapor which it contains will be condensed.

On breaking contact with :the water it will' not contain more than 12.6

grams of water per ycubic meter.

Supposin'g that the temperature in the house 1s maintained at 25, which is a satisfactory temperature, the a'ir which is' re- `heated there will be comparatively dry, -as

itwill not .contain more than 12.6 grams of vapor per cubic meter while saturated .air vcontains 22.3 grams.

In houses constructed in the European -fashion basins may be arranged where jets i lof water at low height may fall and these may take the place of gratesor fire laces,

.or they may replace the hot vwater ra 'ator-s and like them may be provided with inlet and outlet pipes.

A water jet constitutes a most eilicient regulator of temperature, because the contact between the water and the air is direct and operates over an extremely large sur face obtained at low cost. This allows the atmosphere to be sufficiently cooled with water at a temperature of, say, 1()o centigrade, whereas if radiators were used it would be necessary to give them excessively large surface or to maintain them at avery 'low temperature. Both of these would render the absorption of heat units very expensive. The function of my refrigeratmg apparatus consists in cooling a mass of, water to, say, 10 centigrade and then `causin it to issue through various jets ary in the house and returned to beV range 4 cooled and again distributed.

A simple manner of cooling water isto cause it to partially evaporate in a vacuum and a steam ejector is a simple vacuum apparatus. I have found that a boiler workin at 100 centigrade, Vthat is to say, glvlng o vapor at atmospheric pressure, can besatisfactorily utilized to Work ,the ejector 1f the same exhausts into a condenser maintained at a pressure'lower than that of the atmosphere. Where only a limited quantity of water of condensation is available, I prevent its temperature from rising to any extent' above that of .the atmosphere causing .it vto issue in a jetv above a basln situated outside of the house in a shady, cool :S O13.

pI flnd it advisable to provide two suction pumps, one for the Water cooledby evaporation 1n the vacuum and one for thecondens .ing water. As the work which the pumps have lto yperform is very small in comparlson with the available energy absorbed by the ejector, I make use of a rotary motor, preferably constructed according to Behrens system, without distributingl valves, for drlving the same and cause `t e vapor to pass lthrough it on its way from the boiler' to the ejector. These motors,as is well known, are simple and work well but have avery low etliciency because the inletto the steam is always open and because they are Vsubject to great leakage. `These defects, however, are -of little or no consequence in the present 'case-as the ej ectors'utilize all of the available energy of'the steam which has not been consumed in the motor and, again, the effects of the leakage are rendered practically m'Z because the motors work on very small differences of pressure.

it isd'esired to vaporize Water in a vacuum.

In line with nozzle 2 a diffuser -5 is arranged and which discharges into a condensing chamber 6. Condensing water is conducted under pressure into chamber 6 by means of pipe 7 which projects downwardly in line with diffuser 5 and discharges into the inlet of a second diffuser 8. The diuser 8 opens into 'a chamber 9 in which a pressure someywhat higher than atmospheric pressure is maintained. rThe water projected into diffuser 8 tends to maintain a vacuum in chamber 6 by condensing the vapor which it.con-

' tains andit carries with 1t the air mixed with' the vapor. The pressure which the water issuing from pipe 7 tends to maintain l Vin chamber 6 will be equal to the pressure Vof the vapor corresponding to the temperature of the water of condensation. This `temperature will differ very little from that of the atmosphere and will be, for example, about 35 centigrade. The pressure in the chamber 6,`the'refore, will be equal to l0.055 of an atmosphere. Steam at atmospheric pressure is dellvered Aat inlet 1 and passing through nozzle 2, traverseschamber 3 and enters cliffuser 5 at a high velocity. In doing this it carries away the steam condensed inchamber 3 and causes an amount of vacuum 1n.

said chamber greater than that which is maintained in chamber 6 and, therefore, a

lower temperature -than in chamber .6.

Theoretically, the eiiiciency of the systemv employing thls ejector apparatus is not very good but 1t is extremely simple and for practical purposes good enough. It is found that such an apparatus can absorb 3300 heat umts at 10 centigrade for eachkilogram of coal consumedwhen the condensing water is 35. The best V.refrigerating machines with which I am familiar cannot obtain this result because the water is not cooled directly and a condenser with an ejector can not be utilized. To attain a useful difference "of j temperature Iat 25 centi ade, it is necessary for them to develo a di erence of about 40 between their re lgerator and their con- When steam escapes freel between' reservoir 19 and denser, which here than cancels' the sube riority of their theoretical eiliciency. Again, if itis considered that a kilogram of coal produces 7500 heat units, the absorption of one heat unit by my system would cost the same price in coal as the production of one heat unit in a heatingapparatus having an eiiciency of 44% and it will be found that only hot water or steam heatingv systems give better eiiiciency than this. Finally, if it be .understood that the lowering of the temperature which it is necessary to secure in hot countries is less than the difference of temperature which is necessary in heating systems it will be seen that it will cost less to cool a house by my refrigerating apparatus in warm ,countries than to heat a house with good heating systems in cold countries.

Referring to Fig. 2: A boiler 10 is utilized for producing steam at atmospheric pressure. The steam first drives a motor 11, preferably such as described, and then passes to the inlet 1 of the ejector. The chamber 9 of the ejector communicates with the boiler by means of suitable piping and a tank containing a oat valve 12, so arranged as to maintain a constant level of water in the boiler. The steam in traversing the ejector creates a vacuum in a tank 13 connected to inlet 4, which tank is filled with water and maintained at a constant level by a I'loat 14. A pump 15 drivenby motorI 11 withdraws the water cooled' in'tank 13 ,and causes it to issue in jets 16, 16 suitably located in the house which it is desired to cool. The Water issuing through jets 16, 16 falls into basins 17,'17 whence a return pipe conducts it into a tank 18, 4from which it again passes into tank'14. As'the weight of water evaporated in tank 13 is necessarily greater'thanv the weight of vapor condensed by the water jets,

tank 18 would eventually become empty butA the Water is kept at a constant level by means of a float valve, 25 in the line between tank 18 and a reservoir 19 plreferably situated in the upper part of t e house to be cooled. The reservoir 19, which shouldbe.

situated in as cool a place as'possible, is also used for furnishing the condensing water under pressure to pipe 7. The condensing water after being heated in the condensing chamber is -ejected into the atmosphere through a rose head 20; VIt thusreturns in contact with the atmosphere to its original temperature and falls into tank ,21. A

ump 22 also driven by motor 11 raises it rom tank 21 into tank 19.

In order to start the apparatus the boiler 10 and the reservoir 19 are filled with water and a fire lighted underneath the boiler.

23 the same is closed and va ve 24 in the line pipe 7 is opened. Water from the reservoir 1s then'projected through pipe 7 and creates a vacuum in through valve chamber 6: By this means steam is drawn into the ejector and the apparatus starts. In order to stop the apparatus it is only necessary to close the cock 24 and extinguish the fire. As the Water may beY used over and over again, incrustation of the boiler and 4caused by the jets and it is desirable to make up the loss with either distilled water or rain water. 4

lVhere it is ossible .to take advanta e of a boiler alrea yinstalled, it is possib e to simplify the apparatus if the boiler works on a pressure considerably above atmospheric pressure, and, it is'obvious that when high pressure steam is available a better effic1ency will be obtained by the ejector. If the pressure is high enough the condenser may be eliminated and the ejector may exhaust directly into the atmosphere. It is preferable, however, for domestic purposes to use a boiler generating steam at atmospheric pressure.

Having thus described I claim is: A

1 ,In a 'cooling apparatus, a liquid circulating system having one or more portions thereof open to the atmosphere,V a source of liquid supply, a steam generator, a fluid motorcommunicating with said generator, means operated by said motor for circulating liquid through said system, a vacuum chamber in said system and an ejector operated by the exhaust of said motor and tending to create a vacuum in said lvacuum chamber.

my invention, what 2l In combination in a cooling apparatus,

a water4 circulatory system provided with a source of water supply, a fluid-actuated motor for circulating Water through said system, means for exposing the Water circulating through said system to the Aair to be cooled and a vacuum-creating agent operated by the fluid exhausted from said motor `and communicatlng wlth said system, Whereby the water is cooled by forced evaporation.

3. In combination in a cooling apparatus, a Water circulatory system provided with a source of Water supply, means for exposing the water circulating through said system to the air to be. cooled, a vacuum chamber included within said system, a motor for circulatingthe Water through said system and a vacuum-creating agent communicating with said chamber and receiving fluid from said motor.

4. In a cooling apparatus, a source of Water supply, a Water circulatory system,

means, included within said system, forexposing `the Water passing therethrough to the air to be cooled, a motor for circulating the `water through said system, a fluid ejector receiving fluid from said .motor and communicating with said system and a hquid ejector communicating with the exhaust of said fluid ejector whereby the water of4 said systeml is cooled by forced evaporation.

5. In-a cooling apparatus, a liquid circulating systemmeans, included within said system, for exposing the liquid passing therethrough to the atmosphere, a fluid ejector communicating with .said system and a liquid ejector communicating with the exhaust'of said -ejector and operating 1n connection therewith to vcool the Water of said system by forced evaporation. Y

Signed at Paris France this twentieth day of January A. D. 1904.

MAURICE LEBLANC.` Witnesses:v

Hanson C. Coxn,

" JEAN COTTIER 

